CRAIGforCONGRESS

Missouri's 7th District, U.S. House of Representatives

  
 

 

 

2010 Congressional Issues
GOVERNMENT
Elections, Vote Fraud and the Right to Vote



Press Release
November 1, 2002

Kevin Craig, Libertarian Candidate for Congress in the 41st Congressional District, has announced that he will not vote on November 5.

Craig cited Riverside County's new "touch-screen" voting machines and growing skepticism among American voters as the two reasons he'll be staying home on Tuesday.

Who Creates Your Vote?
Craig is chairman of Election Guardians PAC ( www.ElectionGuardians.org ), a political action committee which has been following the case of Weber v. Jones, a legal challenge to Riverside County's "touchscreen" voting machines which will be heard by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals next year.

"State law requires Secretary of State Bill Jones to provide voters with voting machines which are 'safe from fraud and manipulation,'" Craig said (California Elections Code §19205). "The nation's leading computer experts agree that these machines are an open invitation to fraud and manipulation."

The lawsuit was based on last year's report by MIT and CalTech which questioned the ability of voter authorities to monitor glitches or deliberate manipulation of votes on touchscreen systems without an auditable "paper trail."

That report raised serious concerns about the touchscreen machines, painting what it called "A Provocative Scenario":

A programmer at SlickVotingMachines Corp. adds malicious code to a DRE (Direct Recording Electronic device) machine for the California 2004 Presidential election, so that every fiftieth vote for a Republican candidate is changed to a vote for the corresponding Democratic candidate. This only happens when the machine is in “real” mode as opposed to “test” mode, so the election officials never discover the fraud during their testing. The electronic audit trail made by the DRE machine is also affected, so “recounts” never discover anything amiss.

"The winning candidates in modern elections routinely spend millions of dollars to get elected," Craig observed. "Who wouldn't budget a few thousand dollars to bribe a low-paid programmer when there is no way voter authorities can detect the manipulation?"

A federal district court in Los Angeles ruled in September that the touchscreen machines were a "reasonable" choice by Riverside County, because they are easier to access by the disabled, provide ballots in multiple languages, and allow for "early voting programs." 

"It may be true that these features might increase voter turnout," Craig conceded, "but they should not outweigh our right as voters to know that our votes are actually recorded and counted."

In recent elections, voters in Florida and elsewhere have reported pressing the button for one candidate and seeing a different name on the screen. "Even if you see your candidate's name on the screen, you have no way of knowing how your vote was recorded inside the machine, because there is no paper trail," Craig said.

No Recount Possible
"After the 2000 election "hanging-chad" fiasco, we've seen the importance of recounts," Craig said. "No meaningful recount is possible on a paperless touchcreen, because there are no paper ballots." 

Craig said he is encouraging his supporters to forget about a "secret ballot," and tell their neighbors before and after the election that they vote for smaller government, but to realize that talking to their neighbors about how they vote will probably have more impact than their vote itself.

"This is a case where words speak louder than actions," Craig said. "Paul Revere didn't change America by voting," Craig reminds us, "he changed America by getting on his horse and yelling at the top of his lungs."

While Craig admits that voting can "send a message," he encourages his supporters to go one step further. "Politicians regard letters from constituents more highly than a vote, estimating that a single letter represents the feelings of dozens of voters who chose not to invest the time in letter-writing," Craig said.

He encouraged his supporters to go ahead and vote, but to regard their vote as "a message in a cyber-bottle" which may never arrive. "After you throw your bottle into the electronic ocean, address a personal letter directly to your congressman," Craig advised.

Details on the Weber v. Jones lawsuit are at:
 http://ElectionGuardians.org/details.htm 

"Principled Apathy"
Craig's second reason for not voting is to declare his "solidarity" with the growing ranks of non-voters. "Most Americans don't vote. It's been a long time since a politician was elected by a majority of Americans," Craig said, noting that not all Americans are even registered to vote, and most Americans who are registered don't vote

"Put 'None of the Above' on a ballot and you will see voter turnout skyrocket," Craig predicted.

"Americans don't vote because they don't believe the government listens. And they are correct," Craig claims.

"Whenever voters approve a proposition by a large margin, unelected federal judges rule them 'unconstitutional,' or armed federal agents ignore voters' wishes." Craig referred to voters' attempts in California to permit medical marijuana and to reduce the scope of the welfare state.

Craig said he can only name one or two Congressmen who have not violated their oath of office. "Politicians take an oath to 'support the constitution,' but we are in no meaningful sense governed by the Constitution." Craig pointed out that Constitutional scholars use terms like "The Administrative State" and "A Fourth Branch of Government" to cover up this fact.

Craig, himself a candidate for U.S. Congress, noted that Congress has unconstitutionally delegated its authority to bureaucracies, obscuring the separation of powers: "In the Federalist Papers, Madison described this situation as 'the essence of tyranny,'"

"Even if your vote is counted, and your candidate is elected, in most cases your candidate can do very little to slow down out-of-control bureaucracies," Craig lamented. 

Craig still encourages others -- especially those who have dropped out of the electoral process -- to vote for him. "I expended a lot of effort to get on the ballot, and I hope non-voters might take advantage of my sacrifice to make their dissatisfaction heard," Craig said." I am on their side like no other candidate." Craig said a growing number of Americans are questioning the very legitimacy of government itself.

Craig's website at www.KevinCraig.US is one of the largest campaign websites on the Internet, with webpages on nearly 200 issues and several thousand hyperlinks.

Details on the Weber v. Jones lawsuit are at: http://ElectionGuardians.org/details.htm

see also:
  Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ajc.com:
  ELECTION 2002: Georgia puts trust in electronic voting



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